Challenges for energy ramping in a compact booster synchrotron

A booster synchrotron has been recently commissioned at Duke University FEL Laboratory as a part of the High Intensity Gamma-ray Source (HIGS) facility. The booster provides top-off injection into the storage ring in the energy range of 0.24-1.2 GeV. In order to minimize the cost of the project, the booster is designed with a very compact footprint. As a result, unconventionally high field bending magnets at 1.76 T are required. A main ramping power supply drives all dipoles and quadrupoles. Quadrupole trims are used to compensate for tune changes caused by the change of relative focusing strength during ramping. Sextupoles compensate for chromatic effects caused by dipole magnet pole saturation. All these compensations have to be performed as a function of beam energy. Above 1.1 GeV, where the magnets are heavily saturated, the reduction of dynamic aperture is compensated by redistribution of strength among the sextupole families. With these compensations, effects of the magnet saturation do not cause any considerable beam loss during injection, energy ramping, and extraction.